“We’re excited,” said Aaron Moszer, president of 87ers, the new NBA Development League franchise owned by Philadelphia 76ers. “It’s fun to be part of a startup with all the anticipation.… We’ve had to move quickly. Typically, you take 12 to 18 months to get things going with a new team. We’re doing this in a little over six months.”

The 87ers are one of 16 teams in the D-league, the National Basketball League’s minor league established in 2001.

Moszer was hired as president of the 87ers [named in recognition of Delaware being the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787] after serving 11 years as an executive with Ripkin Baseball in Maryland.

“I was 87ers’ first employee; we had no staff and no offices,” he said.

The team — being called the Sevens for short — will play home games at the “The Bob,” the 3,200-seat Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark. Season ticket packages are priced from $7 per game to $80 for seats in the front row at center court. Game day tickets are priced from $9 to $70. Fans can also watch all D-League games on YouTube.

The team set up its office in Wilmington, Moszer said, so they could be in the heart of Delaware’s business community.

Excel Business Systems signed on at the Sevens’ inaugural corporate partner. Other partners include ATI Physical Therapy and American Spirit Federal Credit Union. American Spirit is making blocks of tickets available to 40 kids who, after half-time, will get to give the players high-fives when they return to the court.

Moszer said the team is finalizing a slew of other sponsorship deals. He expects to have more than 20 corporate partners on-board when the team plays its home opener on Dec. 18.

The biggest challenge for the team’s 11 front office staff members, Moszer said, has been making inroads with ticket-buyers and corporate sponsors in such a short period of time.

“We only had our team within the last week,” he said. “It’s been tough for fans to tangibly understand what we are doing, but now they have faces and names. Once we can get people into The Bob to see our brand of entertainment, they are going to be hooked. They are going to be excited and want to come back for me. We are going to be an energetic and hard-working team on the court, and provide people with a family-friendly entertainment destination.

Moszer said Delawareans have shown their enthusiasm for sports with their support of the state’s college teams and the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.

“We expect to get some diehard basketball fans who want check out players the Sixers have their eyes on, but expect mostly novice sports fans,” he said. “Most people will be coming for an evening of family entertainment. Our primary competition will be the movie theaters.”

Moszer said the Sevens plan to follow the model adopted successfully by Minor League Baseball and provide a variety of entertainment during stoppages of play to augment the basketball action on the court.

While he declined to comment on ticket sales to date, Moszer did make one prediction: “We anticipate a sold out crowd for opening night.”